E.l.f.'s Witch-Themed Campaign Delivers Its Best September Engagement

E.l.f. Cosmetics' witch-themed campaign became the brand's most engaged Instagram post of September and posted its highest engagement rate for the month, the brand shared. The push, "The e.l.f.ing Magical Sisters," promotes the Soft Glam Cream Blush and Bronzer Stick — and half of purchasers of those products are new to E.l.f., per internal sales data covering May to September 2026 that the brand shared.

The campaign draws on sisterly-witch references from "Charmed," "Practical Magic" and other spooky hallmarks. Ashley Rosebrook, chief creative officer at E.l.f., said the idea came directly from the brand's community and its listen-learn-lean-in framework for turning insights into culture-facing marketing.

"Our community was already saying and telling us these [products] are so creamy, so blendable and so amazing — they're like magic," Rosebrook said. "When they said that, it was an aha moment."

Why witches, and why now?

E.l.f. connected the "magic" positioning to Gen Z's obsession with 90s and Y2K culture — a cohort with which the brand overindexes. The nostalgia angle also reaches Gen Xers and millennials who lived through the era first-hand.

"'Charmed' was a key reference for us… that show was so much about female empowerment and sisterhood, and we wanted to do our own take on that," Rosebrook said. "We love stretching the elasticity of the E.l.f. brand into other genres."

Timing worked in the brand's favor. The campaign landed alongside spooky season, the release of "Practical Magic 2" and the broader Y2K nostalgia trend.

"It was the perfect intersection of all of these things, [and we could] bring the idea to life very quickly with relevant talent in a way that we thought was really timely," Rosebrook said.

What did the in-house studio deliver?

The hero video, released Sept. 30, stars Priah Ferguson ("Stranger Things"), Keyla Monterroso Mejia ("The Studio") and Bebe Wood (2024's "Mean Girls") as sisters who believe E.l.f. products give them magical abilities. It runs across the brand's owned channels: YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

E.l.f. Made, the in-house entertainment operation launched in 2024 to move fast enough to shape pop culture, conceived the campaign. It was created with "Saturday Night Live" writer alum Anna Drezen and Hungryman Productions director Hannah Levy.

To nail the tone — nostalgia tropes updated with Gen Z slang like "snatched" and "delulu" — E.l.f. drew on insights from talent on both sides of the camera, including Vice President and Creative Director Desi Gallegos and Rosebrook's 16-year-old daughter.

"We're always looking for what feels really authentic to what our community really says, and of course what the talent would say," Rosebrook said. "They're all in the same community."

Is there demand for more?

Interest in the products and the witching sisters remains high, per the brand. Social commenters have asked E.l.f. to turn the spot into a full series.

"I love reading the comments on our socials. So many people were saying 'give us the show please,' like they wanted us to make it into a series," Rosebrook said. "They were just so here for the whole concept, the cast and the humor — that's when we know we've hit the magic."

With half of product purchasers new to the brand and an in-house studio able to ship culture-timed creative within a season, E.l.f. has a repeatable template for converting nostalgia into first-time buyers.